


twice upon a time

by helsinkibaby



Category: NCIS
Genre: Community: comment_fic, F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 16:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14856000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Nick thinks that some things don't happen twice. Nick would be wrong.





	twice upon a time

**Author's Note:**

> Theme : numbers   
> any, any/any  
> So 1, 2, 3, take my hand and come with me  
> Because you look so fine  
> And I really wanna make you mine  
> Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet  
> https://comment-fic.livejournal.com/917411.html?thread=107838883#t107838883

Once upon a time, Nick Torres looked across a high school cafeteria at his best friend. Sofia was sitting at a different table to him, talking to her best girlfriend about goodness knows what, a smile on her face that was matched in her eyes, her laugh loud enough to reach clear across the cafeteria straight into Nick’s soul. 

And that was it. 

No big Hollywood moment, no clap of thunder or flash of lightning or fireworks overhead. Just a girl and a smile and a laugh and it was more than enough. 

It was everything. 

Nick doesn’t think of that day often but he’s thinking of it right now with the weirdest sense of deja vu he’s ever experienced. He’s not in a Florida high school cafeteria, he’s in the bar of the Adams’ House in Washington DC, and the woman he’s looking at across the room has blonde hair, rather than dark. But Ellie’s laughter at something McGee has said reaches clear across the room to the bar where Nick is standing and straight into his soul, just like Sofia’s had done all those years ago. Just like all those years ago, when he turns his head, looks across the room and sees her smile and her eyes, it’s like the world stops spinning for a second, like the only people in the room are him and her and he knows. 

He just knows. 

And once he knows, he can’t not act on it. 

He’s aware that he has a reputation, well deserved, as something of a hothead. But the thing is, he can hold his powder well enough when required - he wouldn’t have survived eight years as an undercover agent if he couldn’t. Which is why he’s able to go back to the table as if nothing has happened, as if he hasn’t just realised something momentous and life changing, and talk to the rest of the team like it’s just an ordinary night. 

Then McGee leaves with almost half his drink left in the glass because he wants to go home and help Delilah put the twins to bed. Jimmy leaves next, citing how he wants to get home to his girls and Kasie asks if she can grab a ride with him, since he’s going in her direction and Jimmy, being Jimmy, readily obliges. 

So it’s just him and Ellie left at the table and he’s trying hard not to notice how Jimmy and Kasie threw a glance back over their shoulder at the two of them. 

Instead, he lifts one eyebrow and his almost empty beer bottle. “One for the road?” he suggests and she pretends like she’s thinking about it but the little twinkle in her eye, the twitch of her lip as she bites it, tells him she’s already made up her mind. 

“Sure,” she says, already sliding off her stool. He makes a noise of protest, already starting to stand and she shakes her head. “I’ve got these,” she adds and he stands up properly then, shakes his head. Call him a Neanderthal, call him old fashioned, but if he’s out in a bar with a lady, he’s buying the drinks. 

He opens his mouth to tell Ellie that, ready to take whatever argument she’s going to give him. 

Except he also reaches out his hand, intending to grab her wrist - lightly, he’s not a total jerk, ok? - to halt her motion. 

He misses her wrist and his fingers close over hers instead. 

He freezes as a shock of electricity goes up his spine. 

Ellie freezes as her eyes go wide and he can see goosebumps on her arm where she’s pushed up her sleeves. 

His mouth goes dry when he realises that he’s standing in front of Ellie, their bodies barely an inch apart. He’s holding her hand and apparently, neither one of them can look away from the other. 

Smart play would be to back away, back down, follow Rule 12 to the letter. 

Nick’s never been one to follow the rules when breaking them would serve his interests better. 

Kissing Ellie is the easiest decision he’s ever made. 

Her kissing him back is the icing on an already damn impressive cake. 

Her eyes are even darker in the dim light of the bar when he pulls away, lets his forehead rest against hers. He clears his throat, but his voice is still husky when he speaks. “I, ah... I should get you that drink.” 

Ellie bites her lip again, squeezes their still joined fingers. “I don’t want a drink,” she breathes and Nick’s made it a point never to argue with her when she’s right. 

“Yeah, me neither.” 

Once upon a time, Nick Torres looked across a crowded room and realised he was in love with his best friend. 

He never thought something like that could happen twice. 

But lying in Ellie’s bed, her head on his chest, her body wrapped around his, he’s never been so happy to be wrong.


End file.
